It's All In Your Head
by msk1701
Summary: The mind does funny things to keep our spirits up and get our priorities in order when things are down. Kara Thrace's does funny things to her when she wakes up.SpeculativeAU piece written in the aftermath of Maelstrom. Chapter 7 has been edited.
1. Chapter 1

"_There's nothing wrong with her physically. Mentally, however…"_

"_How bad is it, Doc?"_

"_The report says that she was lucid until they got her into the Raptor. Then they got in the air and she just passed out."_

"_You mean she's comatose?"_

"_No, but she's catatonic. She's awake but unresponsive, and when she does speak, it's the same thing over and over again."_

"_What has she been saying?"_

"_You'd never believe it."_

0000000000

Kara Thrace slowly gained consciousness to find herself on the floor of a white room. Staying still, she surveyed her surrounding by moving her eyes only. It was a nondescript, empty space. With the exception of a door in one wall, the walls and floor were completely smooth. There was a bright light coming from the ceiling, but she couldn't make out what the light source was. Judging from the walls, there was no way for her to turn it off.

Her head began to throb as she moved to sit up. Leaning up against the wall opposite the door, she realized that she was dressed in a white gown and her tattoos were gone.

Was she dead?

She had to be dead. Her Viper had exploded. She could remember the split second before everything went black when the cockpit disintegrated around her.

But if this was the afterlife, why was she feeling pain?

Kara was trying to figure out what had happened and where she was when the door to the room she was in opened.

_He_ walked in.

No. Not again.

No, no, no, nonononononononono….please, gods, no.

"Hello, Kara."

Leoben.

She began wishing that she was alive. Because if she was dead, then this was hell.

An eternity spent with the one being in the entire universe that made it his personal mission to make her suffer so that she would love him.

Oh, gods, she had let herself go, thinking she was fulfilling her destiny, and she was now the plaything of a twisted sadist with no sense of reality. Tears began welling up in Kara's eyes as one side of her became resigned to her fate while the other insisted that she resist and find a way to escape and return to her people.

Leoben stepped up to Kara and knelt in front of her, a disturbing smile forming on his lips. "No, don't cry, Kara. We're together now, like we were always destined to be," Leoben ran a finger up her arm. "See? I even had your tattoos removed. You're pure, new, and belong to me and me alone."

Kara jerked back at his touch as memories of the dreams-no, nightmares-she'd had of this Cylon came flooding into her mind.

She tried to shrink back…the thought of him touching her like that for real…she wished that she could disappear…wished that she was back on _Galactica_…wished that she had listened to Lee and found her way to the comfort of his arms once she had safely returned.

She began pushing away from her close proximity to Leoben, moving herself closer and closer into a corner.

"You'll come to love me the same way that I love you, Kara. You'll see. Give it time."

With that, Leoben stood up and walked out of the room-no, the cell-and locked the door behind him.

Only then, did Kara to scream as she pounded and clawed at the walls, the floor, and herself. The desperate, primal scream of someone who, despite the reality of their situation still held onto the small hope that they would be delivered from their fate.

Kara curled herself into a ball in and sobbed into her knees. All the talk of higher powers and destinies had gone to her head. The Cylons had truly been fraking with her all this time and she played straight into their hands.

But she permitted herself one small glimmer of hope as she slowly stopped crying. She was alive and Lee was out there. Unless someone tied him down or killed him, he wouldn't stop at anything in trying to find her.

She was sure of it, because she knew she would do the same for him without hesitation.

Because…

Because she loved him…

And he loved her…

At least she hoped he did…that he still did.

0000000000

"_So, no change since she came aboard?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_And she's been saying that over and over again?"_

"_Just that and nothing more."_

"_Any idea why?"_

"_None whatsoever."_

0000000000

"You know, I'm pretty sure this wasn't what you meant when you told me you'd see me on the other side."

Kara jerked up her head at the sound of that voice.

"Lee?"


	2. Chapter 2

"_How?"_

"_A crewman was walking by the room when he heard the four of them talking and called Code Blue."_

"_And they were together. Just like that?"_

"_Yeah…I know it's hard to believe."_

"_My gods…and they were right there in front of us for all this time."_

"_Yeah."_

0000000000

"The mind is a funny thing, isn't it?"

Kara had been alone in the cell a moment before, but she was now staring at Lee Adama. He was leaning against the opposite wall, dressed in black slacks and an un-tucked light blue button-down shirt that starkly contrasted with the whiteness of her surroundings. There was a smile on his face; the half smile that always drove her crazy because she could never figure out what was going on behind it.

"Lee?"

"You've been captured by the Cylons, you're locked in a cell with little chance of escaping, and the one thing on your mind isn't your husband, your dead fiancé, or the man who practically adopted you as his daughter. It's me: the guy you have the ultimate fraked-up relationship with."

"Wha…how?"

"As I said, the mind is a funny thing. You've been like this before and it terrifies you that you might not get out of it this time before the Cylons, or more specifically Leoben, do whatever they want to do to you. So your mind fixates on what gives you hope, the one thing that gets you through those tough times…namely: me."

Kara slowly walked up towards Lee with a look of wide-eyed shock on her face. "I don't understand…"

"What's there to understand, Kara? Sam didn't come for you on New Caprica until the last minute, Zak's dead, and you were on the Old Man's bad side before you ended up here. Meanwhile, despite all the crap that you put me through, I was always there for you whether you liked it or not."

"But…"

"And here I am to help you once again."

She brought her hand up to touch him when he said: "You can't touch me, Kara…I'm not really here. I'm just a creation of your subconscious mind."

0000000000

"_So this makes it a total of eleven Cylon models that we know about."_

"_Correct."_

"_Admiral I want you to interrogate our new prisoners and see if you can find something out about the twelfth model."_

"_Of course, Madame President."_

"_No need to do that, sirs."_

"_What is the meaning of this, Major?"_

"_This is it, Madame President…Admiral…the twelfth Cylon model."_

"_Sweet mother of Artemis…Dee?"_

0000000000

Kara backed away from Lee, now gazing at him warily. "What do you mean you're just a creation of my subconscious mind? Am I going crazy? How do I know you're not some Cylon trick?"

The Lee in front of her gave her a smirk. "How could we ever tell if you're going crazy?" He chuckled softly at the scowl she shot at him. "As for being a Cylon trick…do you think the Cylons would know about the time I had to smuggle you out of that town in a duffle bag when a warrant was put out for your arrest after you vomited all over the town monument?"

"Wait…how do you know about that?"

"How do you think I know? Your mind created me in the model of the Lee Adama you know and love. I know about everything you and the real Lee did together. I'm as big of a dipstick as the real Lee. Think of me as that voice inside your head personified. Or how about your long-repressed conscience finally coming out?"

Kara had to smile at that last comment. Her conscience taking the form of Lee? That was oddly appropriate. The real Lee had always tried to talk her out of doing something she might regret. Sometimes he succeeded. Sometimes he failed. And…

"Now that you're in this mess, you're going to be thankful that I'm here."

That was a sobering thought. Leoben was certainly going to try and break her. Sometimes she wondered if he had already succeeded. The dreams she had been having of the Cylon…

"You're going to need me to keep your mind distracted from whatever they're going to do to you."

Kara looked back her imaginary Lee. He was intensely gazing at her.

"They haven't broken you yet, Kara. And I'm not going to let them get anywhere close to succeeding."

Oddly enough, Kara believed her new imaginary friend. If he was anything like the actual Lee, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

0000000000

"_How did you find out?"_

"_We were in the rec room when she suddenly told me that her four brethren had been captured but that it was too late to stop them from carrying out their plan."_

"_What do you mean, Major Apollo? What plan?"_

"_I don't know…but…"_

"_What is it, Major?"_

"_It's…Kara. Dee says she's still alive."_


	3. Chapter 3

"_The Cylons had been planning this for decades, Dad. The five new Cylons have all independently confirmed it."_

"_They were planning what?"_

"_Apparently, Cylon scripture tells of a human who would come to love one of their own and serve to bring the two races together and that their offspring would set them down the shining path. The rest of humanity could be disposed of."_

"_Just one? The last time I checked, three humans fell in love with Cylons and two of those relationships produced children. Why didn't they stop once those children were born?"_

"_That's just it, Dad. They're machines. They don't understand what love is. They thought that it was possible to force a human into feeling love. In fact, some Cylons still think that way. And…they're machines. They're designed to work until they're objectives are completed."_

"_And they keep on failing to realize that humans rarely do things according to plan. Especially when it comes to love."_

"_Exactly. In fact, none of those humans and Cylons was meant to fall in love. It just happened."_

0000000000

Lee looked at the collection of pilots, ECOs, and marines that had gathered in the briefing room. They were all seriously silent, implicitly knowing that the outcome of this mission could quite possibly decide the fate of the human race.

"Our interrogation of the final five Cylon prisoners produced a set of FTL coordinates. We sent out a recon Raptor to see what was out there. They returned with these images."

Lee pressed a button on the remote in his hand and brought up a series of recon photos onto the screen in the briefing room. They showed aerial photographs of a network of buildings with various purposes.

"Turns out that the fleet was getting close to this planet and that activated some sort of recall function in our new prisoners' programming. That was how we caught them. Further interrogation revealed that the planet is where the Cylons centrally produce the bodies for all skin jobs. If anything were to happen to interrupt the production of these bodies, then the Cylons have a problem, because the mechanical models can't operate independently without commands from the human models."

0000000000

"_The Cylons thought they found the perfect situation. An alcoholic musician with a history of depression in his family met an alcoholic marine veteran of the First Cylon War. They fell in love and had a daughter."_

"_Captain Thrace."_

"_That's correct, Madame President. The Cylons thought they could make the prophecy come true by creating an environment in which Kara's life would be so miserable that when one of them came with the offer of love that she had never experienced, she would eagerly accept. So they killed her father and made it look as if he walked out on his family, knowing that it would send her mother spiraling out of control and make Kara's life a living hell. "_

"_My gods…"_

"_And according to their plan, a Leoben model would then come in, they would fall in love and he would take her away to create a race of hybrids."_

"_I'm sensing a 'but' here."_

"_But…"_

"_Son?"_

"_But…they never expected Kara to fall in love with someone else…before their plan could be completed."_

"_Zac?"_

"_No."_

"_Anders?"_

"_No."_

"_Then who?"_

"_Me."_

0000000000

"Lieutenant Agathon will fill you in on what you need to know for this mission."

Lee handed the remote over to Sharon and stood to the side. He kept his eyes on the gathered personnel, gauging their reactions to the information being fed to them.

They were all consummate professionals. Even the ones who joined up during the Exodus. They knew they had jobs to do and were prepared to make sure that they were done.

Sharon began to speak: "Analysis of the recon photos combined with the intel we gathered from the prisoners allowed me to identify the purposes of each of the buildings you see here."

She used the remote to highlight a small building. "This is a containment building. It most likely houses the human models that are needed to oversee production and perhaps a few prisoners as well."

Sharon's eyes flicked towards Apollo for a brief moment before she turned her attention to a rather large building in the middle of one of the photos. They both knew who she meant by "prisoners."

"This is the production facility. Destroy that and the Cylons won't be able to produce any more human models. And until they rebuild, every resurrection means that they become closer to permanently losing one of their own."

0000000000

"_You? You mean…when she was…"_

"_Uhm…"_

"_Lee…"_

"_Admiral Adama…why don't we discuss this later. We have more pressing issues at hand."_

"_Admiral, Madame President, the final five Cylons were created to be observers to passively watch over Starbuck. In fact they were initially meant to only stay within her proximity so that she could be tracked through them. They didn't even know they were Cylons."_

"_Wait…how do you know anything about that, Lieutenant? I thought the seven models we first knew about weren't supposed have any knowledge of the other five."_

"_I didn't know about anything until I…"_

"_I had Sharon do the initial interrogations."_

"_What?"_

"_Dad. Sharon is an officer in the Colonial Fleet and as a Cylon I thought she would have a better chance at getting through to our new prisoners…and I trust her…she did a lot for me after…"_

"_Forget it…go on, Lieutenant."_

"_When it became apparent that the feelings between Starbuck and Apollo were more than just platonic, the final five's mission was altered so that they would subtly manipulate events so that the two of them would be driven apart."_

"_Wait…so that means Kara and Lee have been…"_

"_The plans were changed when Chief Tyrol saw Starbuck's reaction to Apollo's supposed death in the EMP on Colonial One and Colonel Tigh discovered that he hadn't actually died."_

"_We've had feelings for each other since even before Kara met Zac, Dad. We were just too nervous to do anything about it and things just got more and more complicated. Alright? Can we go on, now?"_

"_Yes, that is a good idea, Major. Lieutenant Agathon? Please continue."_

"_Well, Madame President, it was Tory Foster who mentioned the effects of chamala extract in passing during the chaos of the first few weeks of the First Exodus. The drugs would make you see visions and further suggestions could lead you to begin hallucinating about signs that are spoken of in the Book of Pythia."_

"_But there was no way that the Cylons knew that the prophecies and my visions would come true."_

"_Yes, sir. That was unexpected. But preparations had been made to make it seem as if the prophecies were being fulfilled. When it became apparent that the stories told in human scripture were possibly true, the plan was quickly changed, which is why we were able to make it off of Kobol and continue the search for Earth."_

000000000

Lee stepped back up and took the remote from Sharon. "So here's the deal, people. There will be three teams. I'll be in charge of Alpha, Captain Agathon will have Bravo, and the Gunny will be leading Constellation."

He pressed a button to zoom the photo out into a wide view so that everyone gathered could see the general layout of the facility they would be assaulting. "_Galactica_ will jump into low orbit above the planet and stay long enough to get the Cylons' orbital and aerial defenses distracted before three Raptors with full weapons loads make intra-atmo jumps above the facility and cause mischief and mayhem. _Galactica_ and the Raptors will then jump out. That will keep the Cylons occupied so that they won't notice that three more Raptors jumped into the atmosphere outside and below the range of their DRADIS. Those Raptors will fly in low and drop off our three assault teams at this clearing here," Lee gestured at the screen, "before flying out and hiding at this field here. In the meantime, fully-armed Raptors will be jumping in and out of the atmosphere keeping the Cylons occupied until the assault teams complete their objectives."

Lee turned to his audience. "Any questions so far?"

000000000

"_Anders was a major experiment on the Cylons' part. They wanted to see how high of a profile they could give to one of their own. And when Starbuck returned to Caprica, they figured that he would be perfect for turning her attention away from Apollo. The fact that he sort of looked like Apollo helped a lot. And it worked. He managed to make Starbuck so guilty about leaving him behind that, when combined with the mind games Leoben and Simon put her through, it foiled all of Apollo's attempts to completely mend their relationship."_

"_And then, there's Dee…"_

"_Yes, Major Apollo…Lieutenant Agathon what about Dee?"_

"_Dee's mission was to turn Apollo away from Starbuck, and she preyed on the fact that Apollo was emotionally vulnerable because of Starbuck's rejection. Everything was falling into place neatly. The settlement of New Caprica made things easier for the Cylons, because Starbuck married Anders and settled on the surface while Apollo was married to Dee and on the Pegasus, not to mention the fact that neither of them was talking to the other. That made it easier for Leoben to capture and keep Starbuck."_

"_But why would the fact that they were in two different places matter? They were already on bad terms."_

"_Oh, Admiral. Have you forgotten the human factor already? Nothing is ever cut and dry when it comes to us…especially Major Apollo and Captain Thrace. They've always shared a deep connection. I realized that when they were reunited on the _Astral Queen_."_

"_The President is right, Admiral. Leoben never had and never will have a chance in making Starbuck fall in love with him and her relationship with Anders was never based on love…it was just lust that got out of control. Starbuck and Apollo have been through more problems than even the most dysfunctional marriage and the feelings between them never died. If Apollo had been on the surface when Starbuck was captured…I'm probably not exaggerating if I said not a single Cylon would have been left alive."_

0000000000

Several more buttons were pressed on the remote and Lee had the images on the screen dancing as he explained the battle plan to his troops. "Once we're on the ground, Bravo and Constellation will make their way into the production facility. Bravo will take the east side and Constellation will take the west. Your task is to plant explosives throughout the plant and set up remote detonators. You will then hold and wait for further orders from me."

The room suddenly began charging with energy as the assembled men and women began to process the information they needed to know.

"Alpha and I will assault the containment building and rescue any prisoners…" Lee paused slightly at that word-there was only one prisoner he was concerned about, "and once we've cleared the building, I will give the order to head to the waiting Raptors. We will blow the explosives once we're a safe distance away, hop on the birds and jump out…any questions?"

"Sir? What sort of explosives will we be carrying? It looks as if we'll need a nuke to blow that place."

"Lieutenant Agathon?"

"The chemicals used in the production process are all highly volatile. Conventional explosives placed at various points in the plant will set those chemicals off and the explosions will follow pipelines throughout the facility and the whole place will go up in flames."

0000000000

"_And now they're saying that Kara is alive and that probably means that she's being kept by Leoben."_

"_Yes, Admiral."_

"_Dad…"_

"_I know, Lee…I know…but I just can't order a major operation to look for just one person."_

"_She's not just one person! If you're not going to do anything, then I'll just take a Raptor and go find her myself!"_

"_That is enough, Major."_

"_Major Apollo…Admiral…Interrogate our prisoners further and see if you can extract more information from them...if it's enough to work with, then I can justify ordering a military operation."_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Of course, Madame President."_

"_Major Apollo, if I may suggest that you begin with the Cylon in the third cell…"_

"_Yes, sir."_

"_Go Panthers."_

"_Indeed, Lieutenant. Indeed."_

0000000000

"Anymore questions? Alright, go meet with your team leaders. They'll have more detailed assault plans for you. Once that's done hit your racks and get some sleep. We'll meet again tomorrow at 0900 for a final mission brief and saddle up at 1100. I'll see you all then."

The briefing room erupted into a flurry of activity as its occupants organized themselves into smaller groups and received their mission orders.

Amidst all the commotion, Karl slipped away from his team and walked up to Lee and spoke softly into the smaller man's ear. "That's a pretty ballsy plan there, sir. Real out of the box thinking."

Lee gave Karl a small smile. "Yeah. I guess a certain someone's rubbed off on me big time."


	4. Chapter 4

Kara had been moved by a Cylon Centurion right after Leoben had left to a different cell-one that had a bed and a small bathroom. She had absolutely no contact with anyone. Not even Leoben came to see her. Food in the form of tasteless protein bars was delivered through a slot in the door. Water was on tap. She couldn't see or hear whoever it was that brought her food.

She was left alone.

Alone in a cold cell with stark white walls.

The lights never went off and there was a constant buzzing noise. At times it seemed as if the walls were closing in and the buzzing would rise in volume until it became a roar, but Kara would blink hard and everything would go back to normal-or at least what was normal for her.

Kara was sure that she would eventually go crazy.

But then again, she kept her mind occupied by talking with an imaginary version of Lee Adama that solely existed in her mind. Maybe "eventually" was the wrong word, but if hallucinating about Lee Adama meant she was losing her mind, she really didn't care.

It was Lee's voice telling her stories that drowned out the incessant background buzzing.

It was Lee's figure that kept her eyes occupied from the bareness of the cell.

And sometimes when she lay in bed, if she closed her eyes tight and concentrated as hard as she could, Kara could almost feel Lee's fingers stroking her hair as he told her that everything was going to be alright.

0000000000

"_Do you remember the Field Navigation Training we had to do back at the Academy?"_

"_Yeah…That was how we met…and our instructor: Master Sergeant Smith."_

"_Old Three Eyes."_

"_Hah! Yeah…that huge mole he had above his left eye! I swear that thing kept lookout for him while he slept!"_

"_Gods, I could never look him in the eyes."_

"_You? The Great Apollo? A man who once single-handedly took on an entire prison ship? The pilot who blew up an entire tyllium refinery by himself? You couldn't make eye contact with a single marine?"_

"_Hey…I seem to recall that Smith was the only instructor you never screwed around with."_

"_No he wasn't."_

"_Oh yeah-I almost forgot-the hand-to-hand combat instructors made you cry at least twice a month, didn't they?"_

"_Lee!"_

"_Don't try to deny it, Kara. I was there every time it happened."_

"_Yeah. You were always there."_

0000000000

Days began to blend into one another.

Kara was no longer sure if the marks she scratched into the wall were accurate or not.

The stories she shared with the Lee in her head began to repeat themselves over and over again.

In fact, the time between visits from Imaginary Lee began to get longer and longer.

She spent more and more time lying on her bed.

Curled up.

Staring blankly at the bare, white walls.

And the buzzing.

There were days when that was all she heard.

Endless buzzing as the walls closed in around her.

She considered giving up. Just let Leoben do whatever he wanted to do to her.

Anything to get out of the gods forsaken cell she was locked in.

0000000000

"_That first class with Master Sergeant Smith. Remember that, Kara?"_

"_The river…"_

"_The river…"_

"_Smith planted that rock there, didn't he?"_

"_For the millionth time in what seems like as many years, that rock was not intentionally planted in the middle of the river!"_

"_I'm serious, Lee. Out of all the rocks that I stepped on to cross the river, it was the one in the deepest coldest part of the water that moved and made me lose my footing."_

"_The water barely reached your waist, and the rock was wet, Kara. You slipped. Nothing more."_

"_And how would you know?"_

"_I was right behind you, remember? You were on that rock, acting like a cocky jackass when you slipped and fell onto me. My foot was on that rock, and it didn't move, even with our combined weight."_

"_Oh yeah…I fell into your arms, didn't I?"_

"_Yes, you did."_

"_And you seemed reluctant to let me go."_

"_I was afraid that we'd both fall into the water."_

"_No. You didn't want to let go. You liked holding me."_

"_And what if I did?"_

"_I didn't want you to let go. I liked you holding me."_

"_I probably wouldn't have moved until Smith yelled at us to get moving, ruining the moment."_

"_You dropped me, then"_

"_No, I didn't."_

"_Don't lie, Lee. I know you dropped me."_

"_I didn't drop you. I was spooked so my foot slipped, I lost my grip and we BOTH fell into the river."_

"_Then we came up and you were laughing."_

"_Then you started laughing."_

"_And you turned to me and introduced yourself."_

0000000000

"Kara! Come on! You've got to get up!"

"Go away, Lee," Kara moaned, weakly waving an arm to try and bat away an imaginary figure.

"What? Are you just going to give up?" Lee's voice began to take on a hard edge, but Kara was beginning to pass the point of caring.

"Doesn't matter anymore, Lee. The Cylons are going to win this one. Just like they always do." Kara turned away from Lee to face the wall.

"Oh, this is typical, Kara," Lee was angry now. "Just giving up and taking the easy route."

Kara shut her eyes and tried to focus on the buzzing. She didn't want to hear what Lee had to say. It was always too painful to hear.

"What do I see in you, Kara? What keeps me coming back to you?"

"Shut up."

"All you ever do is hurt me, but somehow I always end up crawling back for more."

"I don't want to hear this…"

"Look at me! Dammit! Don't you recognize this shirt?"

Kara couldn't help but risk a glance. Lee was angrily gesturing at the light blue button-down shirt her mind had dressed him in. No matter how hard she tried to wipe out the painful memories associated with it, she could never forget.

"You shot me while I was wearing this shirt!"

Images of Lee crumpling to the ground with a bullet hole in his chest came unbidden.

His face as he looked at her, rapidly paling from blood loss.

"Do you see this ring?"

"Shut up."

"The one I started wearing after you ran off and married Sam that morning?"

"Stop, Lee." Tears started welling up in Kara's eyes. Even the imaginary Lee her mind created knew how to cut her to the bone.

"You fraked him that night. Told him you loved him."

"Please…Lee."

"Did you forget what happened the night before? Huh? Completely forget that you told me that you loved me?"

"No…don't."

"Then you tell me that you missed me? You had the gall to tell me that you missed me? Or did you just forget what you and Sam did just before then?"

Kara tried to shut Lee out, but he was in her mind. She could still see him even if she closed her eyes. She could still hear him even if she covered her ears."

"You can't even stay married properly! Marriage is a sacrament? Hell! You didn't have a husband! You had a frak buddy!"

"Stop it…"

"We're just easy fraks for you, aren't we? You don't care about anything or anyone. As long as you have your legs in the air with a warm body to fill you up at night!"

"It's not true, Lee…"

"You know…I didn't really mean it when I first told you this…but I do now. You're just a pilot, Kara…a pilot who can't keep her fraking pants on!"

"You'd frak a Cylon, wouldn't you? As long as he was halfway decent? Remember the dreams you were having just before you decided to give up and meet your 'destiny'?"

"Lee, stop it…please…" Kara pleaded as the tears streamed down her face. She held her head in her hands, trying to hide from herself.

"Hell, you'd frak a centurion if you could."

"SHUT UP!" She couldn't take anymore.

Kara screamed as she lunged at Lee, completely forgetting that he was a figment of her imagination. She passed right through him and hit a wall instead, but she didn't care. She began pounding on it, venting all of her rage, frustration, and shame at all she had done.

The cell door opened just then and Leoben stepped in with a smile that, despite all the emotions boiling inside of her, made Kara's skin scrawl. "Is everything alright, Kara?"

"You…"

Intense hatred pushed aside all other emotions within Kara as she leapt at the thing that filled her head with lies and played with her so that she would end up in this cell.

The force of her tackle sent the two of them through the open door and into the wall of a hallway. Leoben's neck snapped as his head hit the wall. He was dead, but Kara didn't care. She kept on pounding on Leoben's corpse as her anger began to fade and she heard Lee…chuckling?

Realization dawned on her. "You knew…you knew that he would come in if I started losing it. So you got me worked up on purpose so…"

"Hey, it worked. Didn't it?"

"I hate you."

"No. You love me."

And he was right. Kara Thrace did love Lee Adama.

She wasn't going to run away from it anymore.

0000000000

"_Lee?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_I'm not afraid anymore."_

"_Of what?"_

"_Of anything…as long as you're with me…if I get out of here…"_

"_I know, Kara. I know."_

0000000000

Explosions suddenly began to rock the building and Kara could hear the beautiful sounds of Raptor engines swooping in.

Imaginary Lee gave her a big smile and said: "Perfect timing."

Kara couldn't help but smile back.

"So what are you waiting for? Come on!"

She took off down the hallway, looking for a way out.

She was going home.

Lee had come for her.

She knew he would.

0000000000

"_And Kara?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_It's not 'if'. It's 'when'."_

"_When?"_

"_Yeah…when."_

"_When."_


	5. Chapter 5

"_Frak! It looks bad!"_

"_Lee?"_

"_You think?!?"_

"_Lee!"_

"_Frak, it's a mess. I can't see the wounds!"_

"_No, gods, no…Lee!"_

"_Here! Cut 'em off!"_

"_Lee…wake up…please…."_

"_But…"_

"_Lee…please, Lords of Kobol…please…"_

"_His clothes, you idiot! Here, get out of the way…Stay with me, Apollo!"_

0000000000

"Come on, Kara. All you need to do get through that door down the hall and you'll be home free."

Kara saw the door her imaginary Lee was pointing to and dashed towards it, barely aware of the cold floor beneath her bare feet. The gown Leoben had dressed her in made it hard to move but she did the best that she could, bunching up the skirt so that her legs had better range of motion. She made it to the door in no time, only to find that she couldn't open it.

"Frak," Kara growled as she twisted and jerked at the knob. "It's locked."

"It won't be for long."

"Oh yeah? How would you know?" Kara angrily hissed back as desperation began creeping into her mind. She needed to get out of there.

"Shhh…listen."

Kara placed her ear against the metal door and she could hear muffled voices; one of which she had been hearing regularly during her captivity.

"Where is she?"

"I'll never tell you. She belongs to me...our…"

She heard the soft thud of a fist being driven into an abdomen followed by the distinct sound of a gun being smashed across a face.

"Yeah, I heard it all before…what's behind that door?"

Kara felt hope surge through her and she began to pound on the door and yell at the top of her lungs: "I'm in here! I'm in here! Get me out!"

"Kara? Where's the key?"

"Sir? I think you broke his jaw."

"Frak this…"

A single gunshot.

"Campbell! Blow this door down!"

"Yes sir!"

"Kara! Take cover!"

0000000000

"_Damn! Okay…let's see…it looks as if he took two shots to his left arm and five to his back…looks like only two of them actually punched through…but he's bleeding like a fountain…help me get his vest off!"_

"_What if he has internal injuries? He could die if we move him!"_

"_We already moved him to get into the Raptor and he'll bleed out if we don't!"_

"_Lee!"_

"_Somebody hold her back!"_

"_Lee!"_

0000000000

Kara ran back to the cell she had just vacated. She didn't want to go back there, but it would be the safest place to be when the door charges went off. Who knew how much explosive they would need to blow down that reinforced door?

Imaginary Lee was already in the cell, waiting for her. That damn half smile was on his face. She met it with a radiant smile of her own.

She was getting out!

Lee had come to rescue her!

"Goodbye, Kara."

Her smile began to fade. "What?"

"This is it for me. Once that door blows, you won't need me anymore."

"But I do need you, Lee…I lo-"

"No, not me…you need _me_," Lee's smile widened. "You're not afraid to admit that anymore, are you?"

Kara smiled once more, understanding. "No, not anymore."

"Good," Lee smile turned into a smirk. "Now cover your ears and get down."

"What?"

BOOM!

The next thing Kara knew was that she was on the ground coughing up a storm, covered in a layer of fine plaster dust with ringing ears. She was surrounded by a ring of heavily armed figures dressed in black fatigues, their guns pointed outwards to engage any enemies that approached. One of the figures in black was kneeling over her, checking her for injuries. Her vision began to focus and she could eventually make out his face.

"Lee," she croaked. At least she thought she said something. Her ears were still ringing.

His worried face broke into a relieved smile as he gathered her into his arms and lifted her up to carry her out of there. Kara's arms encircled themselves around Lee's neck and held on tight. Had it been anyone else, she would have insisted on walking and would have won that argument. Not with Lee, though. She'd let him carry her any day.

Even if she were to put up a fuss, it would be fight he would win.

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"_DRADIS contact! Incoming four Cylon raiders!"_

"_Frak! Sharon! Get us out of here!"_

"_Hold on! Spinning up FTL drive...Racetrack! Tell Raptors Two and Three to jump out right the frak now!"_

"_Get the med kit! Hook him up to the heart monitor!"_

"_Apply pressure! Try to stop the bleeding!"_

"_Raptor Two and Raptor Three, you are ordered to spin up your FTL drives and jump back to _Galactica_ immediately…"_

"_Damn…help me out here! I can't apply pressure to all this by myself!"_

"_Let me go! He needs me! Let me go, gods dammit!"_

"…_Repeat. You are ordered to jump back to _Galactica_ immediately. Acknowledge…"_

"_I said HOLD HER BACK!"_

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Lee couldn't find the words to describe how it felt to see Kara alive (dusty, but alive) and well. And then to hear her say his name after thinking that she had been dead for so long. If it hadn't meant that he would not have been able to spend many more decades with Kara by his side, he could have died a happy man right then and there.

He also had a job to do.

Holding Kara in his arms meant that his hands were full so he used his chin to key his radio: "Bravo-Lead. Alpha-Lead. What's you status? Over."

Helo's voice crackled through Lee's earpiece: "Alpha-Lead. Bravo-Lead. We have reached all our scheduled stops and have made our deliveries. Over."

"Copy that. Stand by, Bravo-Lead…Constellation-Lead. Alpha-Lead. How are you doing? Over."

"Alpha-Lead. Constellation-Lead," came the voice of Gunnery Sergeant Mathias. "We're good to go. Over."

"Copy that. All teams, this is Alpha-Lead, Alpha Team has picked up our package. Team Leads, take your people out to the extraction point and prepare for exfil. We'll see you out there. Alpha-Lead out."

"Acknowledged, Alpha-Lead. Bravo Team is moving out."

"Wilco, Alpha-Lead. Constellation Team is on the move."

Lee turned to his team and began giving orders: "Campbell, you take point. Wilson, bring up the rear. Let's hustle people. We've got Raptors waiting for us…move out!"

Quietly, Lee whispered to Kara so that only she could hear what he said as he carried her out: "Hold on, Kara. I'm going to get you home."

Kara smiled, nodded and tightened her arms around his neck in response.

0000000000

"_Raptors Two and Three are away!"_

"_Lee! Don't die!"_

"_Okay…our turn, now."_

"_Help me hold her down!"_

"_Somebody sedate her!"_

"_Raiders will be in weapons range in ten seconds and counting…"_

"_I can't, she's struggling too much!"_

"_You can't die! Not now!"_

"_Okay…FTL is spun up and jump coordinates are in the computer…"_

"_Don't leave me!"_

"_Five seconds 'til intercept…"_

"_LEE!"_

"_Three…two…one…JUMP!"_

0000000000

Lee risked one glance over his shoulder as he ran out into the open and towards the extraction point with Kara in his arms. Bullets were flying all around him as the Cylons shot at his team as they made their way to the extraction point and as Bravo and Constellation under Helo and Gunnery Sergeant Mathias fired back. All Lee needed to do was make it to the line formed by the assault team and they would peel back to the three Raptors that were waiting for them. Then, it would be a quick FTL jump back home.

Their assault on this facility would cripple the Cylons for a long time, if not permanently. If the Cylons recovered from the humans' assault, the fleet would have already had a sizeable head start and quite possibly have thrown the Cylons off of their tails.

At the very least, they would have time to sufficiently regroup and prepare an adequate defense for the next time the Cylons attacked.

"Helo! Hit it!" Lee yelled as he ran past the man.

"Fire in the hole!"

Lee dived to the ground and covered Kara with his body as the facility blew up sending debris and Cylon body parts flying in all directions. He waited until the initial burst of intense heat faded before rising and picking Kara back up. "All right, people!" he yelled. "Forget the surviving Cylons and let's get out of here!"

The teams began to pull back amidst light fire from the few surviving Cylon Centurions.

Lee was almost to the waiting Raptors when he felt something strong kick him in the back. He pitched forward, unable to stop his fall, but twisted his body so that he would cushion the impact for Kara.

Then everything went black.

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"_Galactica. Athena requesting permission to land…"_

"_Okay…I think I've got the bleeding under con…FRAK! He's in defib!"_

"…_have a med team standing by in the hangar bay…"_

"_Break out the paddles!"_

"_Frak! Uh, Captain?"_

"_What…Kara! What did you do?"_

"…_Apollo's been shot multiple times…"_

"_Nothing! We jumped and she passed out, sir!"_

"_Ahhhh…forget her for a minute! Charging…clear!"_

"…_it looks bad, Actual…real bad…"_

"_Again…charging…clear!"_


	6. Chapter 6

Admiral William Adama sat by his son's bed, unmoving. His gaze never strayed from his son's pale face.

The man spent every moment he wasn't on duty in sickbay.

He barely slept.

He barely ate.

He barely said a word beyond short, to the point orders.

He was going to run himself to the ground worrying.

That was Doctor Cottle's personal and professional opinions as he quietly walked up to the Admiral. He had two burly marines standing by outside of sickbay, ready to escort Adama to quarters and make sure that the Admiral didn't leave for the next twelve hours per his orders.

"Admiral," Cottle said softly. "You need to get some rest."

Adama didn't move or acknowledge Cottle's presence, so the doctor continued to talk: "Admiral, it's been days since you've slept for more than fifteen minutes at a stretch. If you don't get some proper rest soon, you're just going to end up in a hospital bed next to your son."

The Admiral still didn't move.

Cottle sighed as quietly as possible. He was going to have to be blunter than usual with the man, and fewer things were as dangerous as a pissed-off Adama-father or son.

"Admiral. I've got two marines waiting outside. They can either take you to your quarters and make sure you don't leave until I tell them, or I can call them in and they can help me and Nurse Ishay sedate you and get you into a bed. It's your choice."

Adama merely turned his head and looked at the doctor from the corner of his eye.

"Your son is stable, Admiral," Cottle said. "He's out of danger."

He placed a hand on Adama's shoulder and gently urged the Admiral to stand up.

"Then why isn't he waking up?" Adama asked softly. "It's been four days."

Cottle began to lead him towards the hatch.

"He was shot seven times, an artery was nicked in two places and he lost a lot of blood, but there was no trauma to his head. His EEG is normal. It's as if he doesn't want to wake up."

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"_Hi, Lee."_

"_Kara?"_

"_Yes, Lee. Glad to see that you're not blind."_

"_Where am I?"_

"_Think, Lee. Use that great over-thinking head of yours. What do you last remember?"_

"_I was carrying you to the Raptors…something hit me…I was shot."_

"_Yeeeees."_

"_Am I-?"_

"_Dead? No. Stuck in Cottle's dungeon? Yes."_

"_Then how am I seeing you?"_

"_You're unconscious in a hospital bed with nothing but little old repressed you for company. Thought you'd want to wait to gain consciousness with someone a bit more amusing."_

"_Then are you-?"_

"_No! Thanks to you. You noble self-sacrificing fraker."_

"_Then how?"_

"_You do have an active imagination you know. You should really try not to repress it so much."_

0000000000

Cottle nearly had the Admiral to the hatch when Adama turned and walked away, towards Captain Thrace's bed. The doctor rolled his eyes as he followed the other man. Adama was stalling and it seemed as if Cottle really would need to make use of the marines.

"There's nothing wrong with her physically. Mentally, however…"

"How bad is it, Doc?"

"The report says that she was lucid until they got her into the Raptor. Then they got in the air and she just passed out," Cottle said as he began guiding Adama out once again.

"You mean she's comatose?"

"No, but she's catatonic," Cottle spoke quickly. "She's awake but unresponsive, and when she does speak, it's the same thing over and over again."

"What has she been saying?"

"You'd never believe it…"

A grimace flickered across Cottle's face as the Admiral turned away from him and headed back to Captain Thrace's bed.

No wonder Major Adama wasn't waking up. He was just too stubborn.

Like father like son.

"So, no change since she came aboard?"

"Yeah."

"And she's been saying that over and over again?"

"Just that and nothing more."

The two men stood there for a moment in silence as they listened to Thrace almost silently beg someone to not leave her over and over again.

"Any idea why?"

"None whatsoever."

"Come on. Get to bed before you collapse. You won't be any help to anybody if you do."

Cottle pulled Adama away after the Admiral stroked Thrace's hair once and walked to the hatch once again, but both men froze when they heard a soft voice call out.

"Lee? Where's Lee?"


	7. Chapter 7

Lee Adama couldn't wake up.

He could hear all that was going on around him.

He could feel the bed he was lying in; the IV in his arm.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open his eyes, twitch a finger, or make a noise.

He tried, though.

Tried to fight against whatever it was that was blocking him.

But he was always pushed back and he would sink back down into the world and to the Kara created by his mind.

0000000000

_Lee?_

_Can you hear me?_

_Cottle says that…maybe…you can hear me._

0000000000

"Hi, there. You come around here often?"

"Very funny, Kara," Lee groaned as he leaned back and covered his eyes in frustration.

He was sitting on the green grass by a clear, cool stream with the sun shining brightly on his face with an imaginary construct of his subconscious by his side.

A beautiful spot.

On any other day he would have spent hours rooted to that one spot, lost in his thoughts. But he was already lost in the depths of his mind and it seemed as if he would never find a way out.

0000000000

_Remember how I told you that I wasn't afraid anymore?_

_Turns out that there is so much to be afraid of out there…_

_I thought I was dead…that I was fulfilling my destiny._

_Then he walked in and…it turned out that they were just playing with me._

_I was scared, Lee._

_The power they had over my life…_

_I was so scared._

_I thought…maybe this time I wouldn't…be able to resist._

_I thought that I was…too broken._

0000000000

"Ever wonder if your inability to wake up is because you're afraid?" Kara asked Lee as he lay in his imaginary grass with one arm covering his eyes while he mindlessly plucked at the grass and threw the blades into the air.

Lee slightly lifted is arm and turned his head to look at his imaginary companion.

"Afraid, Kara?" he asked. "What's there to be afraid of out there?"

He sat up and waved his hands to punctuate his sarcastic words: "The Cylons? Fanatics taking over a luxury liner? Freak accident in the hangar bay? Prisoner revolt? In-flight malfunction?"

Lee was now standing and pacing back and forth as he spoke.

"By this point in my life, there is practically nothing that I haven't seen or done, and I was scared during every one of those moments. And the fact that all of those things can happen again in the crazy reality I live in fraking terrifies me. Not a second goes by when I am not resisting the urge to look over my shoulder or run off screaming down the corridors. But I lived through it all. So what makes this any different?"

His imaginary Kara simply looked at him for a long moment.

0000000000

_I almost gave up in the end._

_But I didn't._

_Because you were there, you know…in my head._

_It was you who was telling me that everything was going to be alright._

_You helped show me that I wasn't broken…that I never was._

0000000000

"Aren't you forgetting something, Lee?"

Lee's mind had somehow shifted the setting and he was now in the pilots' briefing room, standing behind the podium while Kara sat at her usual spot in the front row.

"What?"

"The fact that when it comes to you: no good deed goes unpunished."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Kara stood up began walking towards him.

"Every time you try to take a stand or do what's right…it all comes at an expense, doesn't it?"

She was in front of the podium, looking up at him as the real Kara had done countless times before.

"Someone else might take the credit, you might be punished, or you find yourself shunned. Or worse yet, nobody notices and you have to go trudging on…doing your thankless job while everyone else gets to kick back and relax for even a moment."

Lee could feel anger and frustration bubble within him as the imaginary Kara continued to speak: "And all you can do is stand at the side and watch while others get to do all the things that you made possible. Without even a lousy 'Thank you'."

"Yeah. The story of my life. What's your point?"

"The point, Lee," Kara said as she stepped around the podium and stood close to him. "Is that right now, you're stuck in a bed in sickbay and you have no idea what is going on out there. You love the real me…but despite the fact that the feelings you have run deep, you're still not completely sure if you want to take the chance again. Because by now, the hope that you'll one day be with her is all you have left. What if you don't end up together? What will you have to live for, then?"

0000000000

_It was always you, Lee._

_It's always been you._

_I kept on running from what I felt for you because…because…I don't know why._

_I was just being an idiot…_

0000000000

Kara walked into sickbay, her mind still reeling from her debriefing.

The extent of the Cylon's deception terrified her.

The fact that her life had been manipulated from the time she was just a child so that she could fulfill a prophecy.

To think that her life had never truly been hers to live.

She had not known what to think. What to believe.

What parts of her were truly hers and not the result of some Cylon manipulation?

Then, Sharon told her why the Cylons had never been able to succeed in their plans.

She had given her heart to someone and it wasn't someone the Cylons had figured into their calculations.

That someone was lying before her now, unconscious in a hospital bed.

Lee Adama: the one man in all the worlds who stuck with her through thick and thin.

No matter how many times she hurt him or pushed him away, he always popped back into her life when she needed someone.

He saved her.

Carried her out of her prison in his arms.

Used his body to shield her.

And nearly died while doing it.

0000000000

…_because you are a part of me, Lee._

_No._

_You are me._

_I don't exist without you._

_Not a second goes by when I don't regret leaving you that morning._

_We could have been happy, but I had to run away like a coward._

_And now…_

_I don't know what I'd do without you, Lee…_

0000000000

Kara sat by Lee's bed.

She took his limp hand in her own.

Kissed it and held it to her cheek as tears welled up in her eyes.

The things he did for her without hesitation.

Leoben had removed her tattoos so that she could be his. But she had always belonged to someone else. Someone whom the tattoo did not represent. With it gone, she could begin to walk away from the mistakes and the pains of her past and get things to the way they should be.

She leaned forward and stroked Lee's hair with one hand as she placed a light kiss on his lips.

She stayed like that for a moment, resting her forehead against his as she silently sobbed against Lee's skin.

"Lee?" she finally whispered. "Can you hear me?"

0000000000

_Come back to me, Lee._

_Can you hear me?_

_Come back to me…please?_

_I don't think I could ever live without you in my life, Lee._

_Because I love you._

_I love you so much._

_Come back to me, Lee._

_I love you._

0000000000

"I think it's time to wake up, Lee." Kara said as she stepped closer and closer.

And then she shoved him back.

Hard.

He fell backwards and mentally prepared himself for the pain of hitting the hard deck.

But the pain never came.

Instead, he landed on something soft, surrounded by sheets.

He opened his eyes.

0000000000

Kara felt Lee's hand tighten around hers, heard him take a sharp breath, and saw his eyes snap open.

She jerked her head back in surprise and got a clearer look at Lee's face. His eyes moved frantically back and forth as he began to struggle and tried to get his bearings.

She gently cupped Lee's face in her hands and forced him to look at her as she whispered soft assurances.

"Calm down, Lee. It's alright…you're back on _Galactica_. Shh…it's alright. I'm here, Lee."

Lee's struggles subsided and his eyes focused on Kara's face. He stared at her, almost disbelieving that she was actually there, with him.

"Kara?" his soft voice came out almost as a whimper.

"Yeah," Kara whispered back. "I'm here."

She gathered him up in her arms and held him tight.

"I'm here."

She didn't care to choke back the sob that came out when she felt Lee's arms wrap around her.

How she had longed to feel that again.

"I'm here, Lee."

"I missed you, Kara," Lee said, his words muffled against her skin.

Kara almost said "I missed you too" but she stopped herself. All the problems of the past came about because she had run from her feelings for Lee. She wasn't going to shy away from anything this time.

"I love you, Lee."

The words flowed so easily from her heart. "Oh, gods, I love you so much, Lee."

Lee's arms tightened around her. "I love you, Kara."

They continued to hold each other, and that was how Cottle found them when he walked in a few minutes later.


	8. Chapter 8

Kara had been unceremoniously booted from sickbay.

Cottle had grumbled something about her "always getting in the way" as he none too gently guided her out of the hatch and pushed her towards senior officers' quarters with parting words that included "food", "shower", and "sleep".

She managed to choke down some algae.

The shower felt good.

Now, she was sitting in Lee's private quarters unsure of what to do.

Sleep was elusive.

Nothing seemed right anymore.

What was left of her world

All she wanted was to be by Lee's side.

She wanted to be with the one person who cared

To hold him in her arms.

Telling him how much she loved him.

Telling him just how much he meant to her.

But she couldn't.

Not until later in the day. Perhaps she would be able to sneak into sickbay without anybody knowing.

Or at least scare the nurses into letting her in.

But until then, she just had to wait.

0000000000

"_I don't like this one bit."_

"_Why not? I think it's beautiful."_

"_I've seen what they can do to each other."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_They can completely destroy each other."_

0000000000

She had once sought out the darkness.

Believed that it was her destiny to see what was beyond death.

Now Kara lay in the darkness-unsure if her eyes were open or shut-curled up in bed with a pillow-Lee's pillow-clutched to her chest. She thought of what it had been like to wake up in his arms.

Everything seemed to be at peace.

Then her fears kicked in and made her run.

She shouldn't have run.

The thought of all the possibilities she had destroyed by doing so made her ache inside as she remembered the look on Lee's face when he found out what she had done.

Suddenly, she heard the hatch handle begin to rotate, and her body automatically tensed.

0000000000

"_I've seen them fight together, Bill."_

"_With each other, you mean."_

"_No…on Kobol. We were pinned down by the Cylons and they moved together as if they were one being…you can't do something like that with another person unless there was something connecting the two of you. You were never good at reading your son, were you, Bill?"_

0000000000

Light from the corridor poured in as the hatch opened just enough for a familiar silhouette to slip in.

"I thought you'd be in here." His voice sounded strained

"Lee?" Kara asked as she brought up a hand to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness. "What are you doing out of sickbay?"

"Didn't want to be away from you," Lee said simply.

He turned around and tried to pull the hatch shut. But he couldn't.

The hatch was heavy for even the strongest crewmember and it proved to be too much for Lee. The walk over had exhausted him and the pain from his injuries shot through his body as he tugged at the handle. His vision went white and he staggered back with a soft moan.

Kara was up in a flash

"You fraking idiot," she grunted while struggling to get Lee to bed. "Are you trying to cripple yourself?"

She got Lee across the room and into bed as gently as she could and then turned on the light to get a better look at him.

He was pale and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his face.

"I'm calling Cottle."

Kara turned to head towards the phone, but stopped when she felt Lee's hand grasp hers tightly.

"I'll be fine, Kara…I _am_ fine."

"No, you're not."

"Kara…what would Cottle with me if I go back to sickbay? He's just put me in bed like I am now."

Kara looked at Lee with concern clear in her eyes. Lee raised his free hand to cup Kara's cheek and gave her a small smile of comfort.

"I'm fine."

She stared into those bright blue eyes, simply nodded, and turned her head to kiss his palm. Then she got up to close and dog the hatch.

Sitting back down on the edge of the bed, Kara gently stroked Lee's hair. She had wanted to avoid close physical contact for fear of aggravating Lee's injuries, but the sight of him closing his eyes at her touch was too much.

Kara quickly leaned in and kissed Lee for all she was worth. Trying to pour all the emotions she felt for him into that kiss.

She felt Lee's hands come up to tangle themselves in her hair as he took the kiss deeper than she thought possible.

Maybe those possibilities hadn't been completely destroyed.

0000000000

"_Let them be together, Bill. Their story has been going on for years. Let them have their happiness. It's been so hard to find beauty like that nowadays."_

"_I still won't like it, Laura."_

"_You will like it, Bill. You will."_

0000000000

"I thought I'd never get to do this again," Lee said as he gently ran his hands up and down Kara's back.

Kara shuddered at the sensation, remembering how the same heat and electricity had traveled through her body when he had touched her for the first time. She resisted the urge to squeeze him tightly and attempt to meld her body to his. Instead, she settled for gripping his shoulder a little harder.

"Yeah, well get used to it," her voice was shaky with emotion, "because you'll be waking up like this from now on."

Lee's hands stilled on her back. It was as if he didn't completely believe her. But she leaned up to look in his eyes, and she saw his joyous look on his face and matched it with her own radiant smile.

"I mean it, Lee." Kara moved in for a quick kiss before lying down again. "Now get some sleep….you need to build up your strength…because I can't promise you'll be waking up fully clothed like this every morning."

She felt more than heard Lee's chuckle.

"Yes, ma'am."

Sleep came easily for the both of them.


	9. Chapter 9

"_What do you think?"_

"_That's one hell of a view, Lee."_

"_It is…isn't it?"_

"_I still can't believe you bought this place, though."_

"_Yeah, well, I knew I wanted that to be the second thing I see every morning the moment I walked into this room."_

"_Oh? And what would the first thing be?"_

"_Do you really have to ask?"_

"_No, but I like hearing you say it."_

"_You, Kara. I want you to be the first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning."_

0000000000

Kara rolled over to discover that she was alone in bed. Instead of the warm body she had expected to snuggle up against, there were only ruffled sheets.

The clock on her bedside table softly glowed, telling her that it was three in the morning.

Lee was doing that a lot, lately. Getting up at ungodly hours. She had tried telling him to let her take care of things and to stay in bed, but he just ignored her.

She was pretty sure that there were days-long stretches when Lee wouldn't sleep.

The idiot.

She took a moment to stare out the bedroom window before getting up and out of bed.

Earth.

They had found Earth and one of the first things Lee did was buy a house and ask her to move in with him.

Then he asked her to marry him.

She still pinched herself from time to time.

Especially when she walked through the halls and saw the photos placed around their house.

There were a lot of them.

And Kara would only secretly admit that she chose, framed, and put up many of them.

Kara and Lee.

Always together.

Always with open, unguarded smiles.

In front of their house, surrounded by boxes on the day they moved in.

Soaking wet after Hera, with not so subtle encouragement from Helo, opened up a garden hose on them.

Standing in the snow. Snowflakes falling around them. His arms and coat wrapped around her, warming her up as she pressed her back into his chest, looking up at his face with pure adoration.

Her engagement ring clearly visible on her hand.

On their wedding day. He in his dress uniform, She in a wedding gown.

The look on his face as she walked down the aisle had been priceless.

They both agreed that the day had spiraled out of control and that they would never again let Laura Roslin organize a party for them.

But it had been beautiful. Perfect, even. Gaudy and overdone. But perfect nonetheless.

All the love that poured between them as they exchanged vows and rings. The unspoken promises that neither was going to break that were made as they stared into each others eyes while sharing their first dance as husband and wife.

Kara stopped to look at their newest photos.

Looking at them and the joy in their faces almost made her forget about being pissed at Lee.

Almost. But not quite.

She made her way to living room.

0000000000

"_I wish you'd have warned me."_

"_What? You know that this is tradition."_

"_A heads up would have been nice before you jumped into my arms, though."_

"_Tell you what, Lee. You can ask your wife to give you a heads up the next time you get married. But since I'm going to kill you if you even look at another woman, why don't you suck it up and carry me over the threshold?"_

"_Yes, ma'am…what's the matter?"_

"_Nothing…just remembering what…what happened the last time you…carried me like this."_

"_Hey. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. You know that, right?"_

"…"

"_Kara?"_

"_You know you're stuck with me forever, right?"_

"_I wouldn't have it any other way, Mrs. Adama."_

0000000000

Kara walked into the living room to see her husband facing the window, gently rocking back and forth on his feet. She could hear their baby boy softly gurgling against his father's chest as Lee softly hummed an old Caprican lullaby.

She paused to take in the sight like she did many a night since little Billy Adama had been born, any feelings of annoyance at Lee immediately dissipating. She gazed at her family much in the same way she often caught Lee staring at her when she was with their son.

Absolute perfection.

That's what stood in front of her.

Lee turned his head at the sound of soft footsteps, flashing his approaching wife a smile. He completely turned around and walked to meet Kara in the middle of the living room.

A feeling of peace swept over him as Kara leaned her head onto his shoulder and wrapped one arm around him as she brought her other hand up to caress the soft brown fuzz on their son's head.

Billy, however, was too preoccupied with his fingers to care about the attention.

The family stood like that for several long moments.

Mother and father silently thanking the gods for all that they had.

Child discovering how many fingers he could stuff into his mouth.

Billy's eyelids slowly began to droop down and he eventually fell asleep in his father's arms.

"Here," Kara whispered. "Give him to me."

Lee eased the sleeping child into Kara's arms and followed her back and watched as she tucked Billy into his crib.

Kara walked out of the nursery and into Lee's arms.

They stood in the hall, just holding each other. Her face in his neck. His face in her hair.

Then Kara leaned back and looked at Lee with a serene expression that he never tired of seeing.

She pulled his face down to place a light kiss on his lips, then pulled back to look into his eyes before kissing him once more.

"Lee?" she asked softly, her lips still brushing against his.  
0000000000

"_I'm pregnant."_

0000000000

"Yeah?" Lee whispered back. He closed the short distance between their lips as he slowly pulled her towards their bedroom.

Kara pulled back, gently but firmly holding Lee's face in her hands, and looked straight at her husband. "I want another."

"Really?" He didn't need to ask the question, the look in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

"Yeah."

They both smiled, no words needing to be said. Neither knew who leaned in first, but their lips met and did not part for the longest moment.

"Why don't we wait until Billy gets out of diapers first?" Lee asked with a grin when they finally broke for air. He took Kara's hands in his own and walked backwards, again pulling her to their bedroom.

Her smile turned into a slight smirk of amusement. "That's probably a good idea."

She didn't take her eyes off of him, even when the backs of his knees caught on the bed and they both fell onto the soft mattress.

_0000000000 _

"_Did you just faint?"_

"_What?"_

"_You fainted."_

"_No, I didn't."_

"_Yes, you did."_

"_You're dreaming it, Kara."_

"_Then why are you on the floor?"_

"_I…slipped."_

"_No…it's sweet. You fainted when I told you that I was pregnant."_

"_Alright…so I fainted. Ah, gods my head hurts."_

"_Well here's a kiss to make it all better…just don't faint on me when I'm in labor. Promise?"_

"_I promise, Kara."_

0000000000

"I love you so much, Lee." Kara whispered, tracing her husbands face with her fingertips.

"I love you, too."

Lee wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

Sleep was about to take the both of them when a cry came out of the baby monitor on Kara's bedside table.

They moved simultaneously, each trying to beat the other so that the other would stay in bed.

"I'll get him," they both said.

"I got it."

"Stay in bed, he's probably just hungry."

"If he is I'll bring him to you."

"No, you need your rest. You've hardly slept since Billy was born."

"I'll be fine. You, however, need _your_ rest."

"Frak you, Lee. I'm fine."

"Language, Kara. Language."

"Oh for frak's sake…it's not as if he can understand me…alright, alright…I'll watch what I say. Now will you go back to bed?"

"No."

"Urgh."


End file.
